Author: Rosie Brennan

Here is a blog I wrote for the National Nordic Foundation about my time at home plus a little add on:

Over the last ten years, the U.S. Women’s Cross Country team
has undoubtedly found its stride. Many years ago, Kikkan Randall spearheaded an
ambitious goal to not only be the best herself, but to be part of a team that
is internationally competitive. She gave us belief, she shared all that

I am a full believer in teams. My college team, my club
team, and the U.S. Ski Team have all played invaluable roles in my life. I also
believe that the stronger and more individual each person on the team can be,
the stronger and more creative the team will be as a whole. The U.S. Ski Team
is unique because we spend close to every day together over the winter
competition season. This, in some

Last year was my first year ever doing a tour and I managed to drag myself through two of them. Something about racing day after day and pushing yourself truly to the limits is attractive to me, so I went for a third tour this year. It was an interesting experience doing the same tour a second time because even though we were at the same venues doing mostly the same races, my feelings and my

I finished the 2015/16 season utterly exhausted having raced more and traveled more than ever before. As spring rolled around, I started to question how I could sustainably continue to race. I love racing and was not interested in quitting, but I did need to rethink how I approach training and racing and how I can make it as fulfilling as I want it to be. Many of my

When racing a full World Cup schedule, one of the biggest challenges is finding the right balance of rest, racing, and training. Most weeks require me to make an evaluation of my fatigue level and then decide if that week I need rest to get ready for the next race or do some training to fine tune the body for the next race. This is not a strong point of mine as I like to push until I break. It

I just completed my first Tour de Ski! The tour is a bit different every year, but this year we did 8 races over the course of 10 days at 4 different venues in 3 different countries. When the tour first started, 10 years ago, the U.S. didn’t send anyone to compete in it and even after a few U.S. skiers started to race in the tour, I thought they were crazy and I couldn’t fathom how anyone could

For the first time in my life, I did not spend Christmas in Park City. I feel lucky to have been able to spend 26 Christmases in the town I love best, however this year has brought about a new adventure, one I am also fortunate to have. With only 10 days away from racing, it is difficult to travel home and travel back to Europe without completely messing yourself up so I elected to stay in Europe

I have now finished three weekends of World Cup racing. The excitement and nerves have settled down, everything feels quite routine, living out of a suitcase is getting as comfortable as possible, and hints of homesickness have started to creep in.

Luckily, week three brought us a little further south to the Swiss Alps where the mountains are big and the sun shines strong. I never realize how

December has started off well! Norway greeted us to an
abundance of salmon, brown cheese, waffles, and most importantly SUNSHINE! The
hotel buffet is no joke. Every meal has a full spread of everything you can
imagine and then some. Many different choices of meat and seafood, any carb you
can imagine, tasty vegetables, and an extensive dessert bar! While the snow was
a little sparse, we were

The World Cup started with a bang with a 3 stage mini tour
in Kuusamo, Finland. Kuusamo is close to the Arctic Circle and with some
combination of where the village is in relation to the hill and the numerous
snow guns in action, there is almost always some moisture in the air and not a
whole lot of sun. But Kuusamo has it’s own beauty with long steep climbs and
rip roaring descents and

August 12, 2018 by Sadie Bjornsen“No rest for the weary!” For the longest time, this saying has been something that rolls off my tongue, and feels natural. If you are strong, you never rest! You must keep pushing. Never give up, just keep pushing. These are all sayings that we learn as kids, and it gives us our strength and […] > READ MORE

APU Nordic Ski Center began a decade ago as a regional Olympic training center for cross-country skiers. The program developed some of the best elite skiers in the country including many Olympians and national medalists.